Were monastic training texts written down during the Buddha's life?

Question

It seems a commonly held notion that the actual written text of Buddhadharma were only recorded well after the life of the Buddha. However, this sutta seems to indicate that was not so:

"Take a mendicant who says: ‘Reverend, I have heard and learned this in the presence of the Buddha: this is the teaching, this is the training, this is the Teacher’s instruction.’ You should neither approve nor dismiss that mendicant’s statement. Instead, you should carefully memorize those words and phrases, then check if they’re included in the discourses and found in the texts on monastic training. If they’re not included in the discourses and found in the texts on monastic training, you should draw the conclusion: ‘Clearly this is not the word of the Blessed One, the perfected one, the fully awakened Buddha. It has been incorrectly memorized by that mendicant.’ And so you should reject it."

AN 4.180

Isn't this prima facie evidence that contrary to this belief that actual teachings were written down and consulted during the life of the Buddha?

Answer 1

I suspect that "text" there is an artefact of the translation-into-English -- it says "texts" and you think "written".

A simpler and more common translation is just, "found in the suttas and the vinaya".

You can use the "views" icon on the page menu to enable side-by-side display of the Pali.

Instead, you should carefully memorize those words and phrases, then check if they’re included in the discourses and found in the texts on monastic training.
Anabhinanditvā appaṭikkositvā tāni padabyañjanāni sādhukaṁ uggahetvā sutte otāretabbāni, vinaye sandassetabbāni.

I'm not sure any of the Pali words say "written text".

I haven't found a clear translation of sandassetabbāni, here's a footnote from Buddhism: Buddhist origins and the early history of Buddhism in South and Southeast Asia edited by Paul Williams (in a chapter titled, "On the very idea of the Pali canon"):

... which at least implies it's understood to mean something like, "compared with", not, "written text".

Answer 2

This is an inaccuracy in the translation of Ven. Sujato.

Let's compare it against the translation of Ven. Anandajoti on this page:

Sutte osāretabbāni Vinaye sandassetabbāni.
they should be laid alongside the Discourses, they should be compared with the Discipline.

Here the latter translates "Vinaya" as "Discipline". The former translates it as "texts on monastic training".